The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, MAT 16, 1885. Borough Finance and the Library

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 142, 16 May 1885, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, MAT 16, 1885. Borough Finance and the Library

To-dat we publish the Statement of the receipts and expenditure of the Feilding Borough Council for the year ended 31st March, 1885. We commend the information thereincontained to the ratepayers, as giving them an accurate knowledge of what money has been expended on the General and Loan Accounts, and the headings under which such expenditure has been made. These require no comment from us, as the subject has been so far exhausted, and under the new regime of economy and retrenchment, the necessity for discussion does not exist. With the Library, however, the matter is different, for the future success— or the want of it — in this admirable institution, lies altogether in the hands of the ratepayers and the public generally. We will therefore have a few words to say on that subject. It will be observed, on reference to the Library Account, that the actual receipts for last year were — from the ratepayers £31 5s 6d, from the public £23 8s lOd, the Government grant of £17 4s 2d making a total of £71 18a 6d. The expenditure, for librarian, papers, rent, &c, amounts to £89 5s Id ; that is, £17 6s 7d actual excess of expenses over the revenue. Now we say at onco that this state of the Library revenue is a disgrace to the Borough. The list of membership, we find on reference to the books of the Librarian, has never exceeded 45, and the present number on the roll is 38. This is not as it should be in a community that prides itself on its culture and intelligence. The two most common reasons given for not subscribing to the Library are — first, that any ratepayer has already done so, and is not liable therefore to be called on for further payment; second, that " there are no new books." In reply to the first, it is plain enough that the share of each burgess in the £31 5s 6d rate is very small, and that a little more than this is needed to keep life in the thing. Those who cry out for new books should remembor that the only way to get these is by subscribing to the Library funds to enable the committee to purchase them. Waiting for new books, without assisting by money payments, is ! like waiting to " catch sparrows when the heavens fall;' 7 or it looks like waiting to receive cheap benefits at the hands of the more liberal members of the community. The selection ef books now in the Library is a remarkably good one, fit to meet the tastes of every class of reader. In the Public Reading Boom are to be found papers and periodicals from every part of the world. The order in which the Library and Beading Boom has been kept since its commencement reflects great credit on the Librarian as well as on the Borough. The only thing needed is that the heads of families, clergymen, school teachers, and every person interested in the education or intellectual improvement of the population, whether young or old, should lend a helping hand, and assist to give new life to an institution which can exercise such a powerful moral influence over the human mind in the dissemination •f general knowledge. The amount of the annual contribution required for membership is so small that there are none so badly off as to be prevented, on the score of poverty, from joining. We sincerely hope that our readers; will of me forward with that spirit of; liberality which has always distinguished them in the past, and give free and hearty support to the Feilding Public Library." j